Yes, that is a question.

We have extensive records from 1981, but that’s quite a while ago and the environment has changed significantly.

So significantly that the 2002 Ordnance Survey map that I have was clearly never right at all, and the current Ordnance Survey “app map” is rubbish too.

One shows loads of trees; extensive mixed woodland, and the other shows fragmented broadleaved wood. In reality, it’s somewhere between the two, and I wonder where they got their data from.

At least the streams are in the right place!

As soon as me and Andy set off, it’s hard going; really hard going. You wouldn’t come here for a “nice walk”!

Soaking wet heather about 3 feet deep made for a work-out!

But it also made the ant-hunt difficult, not being able to see the ground.

Being cooler now it’s autumn, the chance of seeing them running up tree trunks was very low too.

Instead of finding dozens of nests, we managed three.

Yes, we probably missed some, but the omens weren’t good.

The first nest we found seemed to have a mysterious new species, ants only half the size that we expected, and all black instead of black and red.

Research back at home suggests that they might be small because they were starving.

Fortunately the other two nests were rather healthy.

Autumn birches looked really great, brightening up the scenery.

So what’s going on?

Guesswork and speculation:

Old birches died, removing ant foraging habitat; a fence was erected to keep the deer out and allow new birches to grow, but maybe too much and too late. And the lack of deer also allowed the ground vegetation to swamp the nest sites. Seems to suggest good intentions to restore ant habitat which might have been counter-productive.

Further research necessary.